A nominated state minister is facing sharp criticism over allegations regarding his academic qualifications in his CV.
A nominee for junior finance minister in the new Dutch government is under fire after admitting her CV wrongly suggested she held two university degrees she never completed.
ناتالي فان بيركل, a current MP for D66 (Democrats 66), was proposed as junior finance minister. However, newspaper Volkskrant reported that her CV contained major inaccuracies about her education.
She stated she had studied for a master’s degree in business administration at Universiteit Leiden (Leiden University), but in reality she only followed a pre-master’s course and did not finish it. She also claimed to have studied law at Erasmus Universiteit (Erasmus University), yet she failed to complete her first year there as well.
Volkskrant said it repeatedly asked her to clarify her CV, which appeared on both her parliamentary profile and LinkedIn. Each time, it became clear that the courses she attended were shorter or at a lower level than originally claimed. In response, ناتالي فان بيركل said she should have been more explicit, calling the errors a “mistake,” and insisted she had always been honest in interviews about not finishing her degrees.
A D66 spokesperson later confirmed this to NRC (NRC Handelsblad), adding that her CV should have been “much clearer.” She is expected to discuss her proposed ministerial role with party leader and incoming prime minister روب يتن on Tuesday.